The U.S. is getting closer to being the world’s leader in offshore wind technology thanks to strong support from the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) and R&D programs led by some of the country’s most prominent technology and engineering innovators.

Alstom and partners have been actively supporting the exploration of offshore wind and have received an additional $3.4MUSD from the DoE for phase II of their advanced controls program. The program, led by Alstom, was established in 2011 to create advanced control technologies and integrated sensors for offshore wind turbines.

“The goal of this and other offshore R&D programs is to drive down costs while achieving optimum turbine performance,” said Andy Geissbuehler who leads Alstom’s North American Wind business. “We are getting closer to achieving this objective. With phase I we were able to develop and simulate advance controls. During phase II we will further develop, test, and validate these technologies on our onshore and offshore prototypes.”

Partners, including the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Texas Tech (TTU), University of Massachusetts (UMASS) and Glosten Associates, have been exploring ways to use advanced control components to maximize energy yield and advance floating substructures that reduce levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for offshore wind by up to 30%.

This program is one of several offshore wind R&D programs supported by the DoE that Alstom is collaborating on. One example is Dominion's Virginia Offshore Wind Technology Advancement Project (VOWTAP), which DoE also recently announced was selected for additional funding to support deployment.